In August 2025, U.S. Attorney-General announced that the Trump administration had doubled the existing bounty on Nicolas Maduro, the left-wing President of Venezuela, to $50 million for information leading to his capture.
The administration has accused Mr. Maduro of being “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world”.
According to Washington, he heads Cartel de los Soles, a Venezuela-based drug cartel that has been designated as a global terrorist organisation by the U.S.
On September 2, President Donald Trump announced an air strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean.
ver since, the U.S. has carried out a series of strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific waters on boats which the Trump administration claimed was carrying drugs, killing at least 57 people. The U.S. is also building up troops in the region.
It has deployed some 10,000 troops to the Caribbean.
Venezuela has long been used as a transit route by drug traffickers from Colombia, source of most of the world’s cocaine.
Accused of rigging the July 2024 election to retain power, he faces a reinvigorated right-wing opposition led by María Corina Machado — this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate — who has openly endorsed Mr. Trump’s Venezuela policy of sanctions and threat.
Mr. Trump said on October 30 that he was not considering strikes on Venezuelan soil. But for Mr. Trump, inconsistency is a weapon rather than a liability.
In June 2025, he had said the U.S. was “fairly close to a pretty good agreement with Iran” over its nuclear programme, and warned Israel not to blow it up. Within a day, Israel bombed Iran, and a few days later Mr. Trump joined the war.
